This year 23 teams signed up to compete for the coveted Gray Taxidermy trophy, a one of kind model commissioned by Marina Pez Vela in honor of Costa Rica and its sailfish history.
The tournament fleet rolled out of Marina Pez Vela at 6:00 am Saturday morning, donning their new Bluefin USA tech tees. With water temperatures still a little cooler than usual this time of year, there were plenty of bites of both sailfish and marlin, a fair share of fish that came off during the fight and even tough decisions on marlin/sailfish doubles to cut off the marlin…say what?!?
In the Sailfish Slam you only score points by catching and releasing sailfish.
All other species caught on Saturday were great for story telling or for ceviche, but they didn’t put points on the board in the Sailfish Slam. Just ask first-time fishing team, the Caribenos on Raven, who had the time of their lives fighting and releasing 3 blue marlins on Saturday…and won our special “sailfish only” award.
A total of 118 sailfish were released during Saturday’s tournament, with the top three teams all putting up double digit releases.